Wearing apparel



March 8, 1960 n. D. PENNIMAN WEARING APPAREL Filed Sept. 26, 1956 5 MN H mm m E 0 WM w a D 7 W 1 w .m 0

WEARING APPAREL Dorothy Dyar Pennirnan, Washington, D.C. Application September 26, 1956, Serial No. 612,296

6 Claims. (Cl. 276) This invention relates generally to wearing apparel which is designed to be fitted for normal wear but which is adaptable to the changes in contour of the body of a wearer, such as occasioned by pregnancy or abdominal obesity.

Many previous attempts have been made to provide wearing apparel with adjustable features designed to accommodate an increase and/or a decrease in the waistline or abdominal contours of a wearer, but all of these attempts of which I am aware, have not been entirely satisfactory since in many instances they sacrifice appearance for comfort, while others have produced garments which have temporary utility only.

It is an object of my invention to provide a garment of the character described which is readily adaptable to the changing contours of the body of the wearer thereby to provide the desired comfortable support which comes from substantially complete conformity of the garment to the contours of the body, while providing a generally neat and trim appearance for the wearer.

Another object of the invention is to provide a garment of the character described which may be worn by expectant mothers, and which due to the novel design features of the garment, may be worn with equal comfort, before, during and after pregnancy, while maintaining throughout a neat and trim appearance.

A further object of my invention is to provide in a garment of the character described plural areas of expansion in the vicinity of the waistline or abdominal region thereof to insure a full measure of expansion in the garment where most needed and positioning said areas at points which will insure maximum comfort for the wearer. v

A further object of my invention is to provide in a garment of the character described means to conform and fit the garment snugly to the body of the wearer along a line immediately below the lower extremity of the abdomen and coinciding substantially with the pubic bone so as to maintain the skirt firmly in place at this point to insure the maintenance of an even hem line and enhance the overall neat and trim appearance of the garment.

A further object'of my invention is to provide a general principle of design for wearing apparel which is of general applicability to mens and womens garments. including sportswear, but which is of particular utility in respect to Womens skirts and dresses.

These and other objects of my invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following specificati n read in the light of the accompanying drawings wherein- Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic front view of a skirt made in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic rear view of the skirt of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic side view of the skirt of Fig. 1;

nited States Patent Patented Mar. 8, 1960 Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic plan view of the front panel of the skirt of Fig. 1, before sewing;

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic front view of a dress made in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic plan view of the front panel of the dress of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic front view of a bifurcated garment made in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic plan view of a front panel to be incorporated in a garment of Fig. 7.

Referring more particularly to the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals are used to designate like parts throughout, Fig. 1 shows a skirt made in accordance with my invention and the same comprises a multiple gore front panel comprising three gores, 1, 2 and 3, joined by sewed seams 4 and 5. The rear portion of the skirt may be conventionally formed and may include any desired number of gores such as 6 and 7 as shown in Fig. 2. The gores 6 and 7 are joined by a sewed seam 8 and the thus joined rear gores are joined at the outside edges to the corresponding edges of the front panel go'res 1 and 3 by sewed scams 9 and 10.

The front panel of the skirt may conveniently be made in one piece as shown in plan in Fig. 4 wherein the gores 1, 2 and 3 are formed integral with the top front portion 11 of the skirt. The material from which the skirt is to be made is cut out at 12 and 13 to form the gore pieces 1, 2 and 3 in spaced relation as shown. I thus provide areas of fullness in thetop portion 11 of the skirt as shown at 14 and 15 in Fig. 1, when the adjacent edges 16 and 17, and 18 and 19 of the gore pieces 1, 2 and 3 are sewed together. It will be noted that the seams 4 and 5 which join the edges 16 and 17, and 18 and 19, respectively, extend from the bottom edge of the front panel upwardly to points indicated at 20 in Fig. 1. These points as shown are spaced on opposite sides of the center line CL of the front panel of the skirt on a line D-D which coincides substantially with the pubic bone or with the lower terminus of the abdominal region of the wearer. Having in mind the cut out portions 12 and 13 as shown in Fig. 4, it is apparent that by terminating the seams 4 and 5 at the points 2% as shown, the top portion 11 of the skirt, above and in general alignment with the scams 4 and 5 will fold as shown at 14 and 15 to provide areas of fullness at these points, the expansive extent of which depends upon the transverse dimension of the upper portion of the cut out portions 12 and 13. The material of these folds is preferably disposed as shown in Fig. 1, so as to lie on opposite sides of the abdomen of the wearer forwardly of the hips. This even distribution of the surplus material of the upper part of the skirt at opposite sides of the abdomen insures the maximum degree of comfort for the wearer while providing ample material to accommodate the expanding contours of the body.

The lower edges 21 of the upper part 11 of the skirt which connect the gores 1, 2 and 3 as shown in Fig. 4, become the lower extremities 22 of the respective infolded portions 14 and 15 of the skirt, when the gore scams 4 and 5 are formed in Fig. 1, and the gore scams 4 and 5 are carried slightly above the extremities 22 of said infolded portions as shown. The ends 22 may be secured together if desired, but it is preferred to leave these ends unsewed 'as this facilitates the distribution of the material within the sections 14 and 15 when the latter expand to conform to increasing body contours. The waistline of the skirt comprising the upper edge 23 of the front panel and the upper edge of the rear panel of the skirt may be finished in any conventional manner, preferably without the use of a built-in belt or stiffening material, since it has been found more convenient and natural and unsightly lines. with dresses and skirts which are prone to draw up in blouse portion 27 may be-made.

the dress may be made from a single piece of material practical to obtain the desired snug fit at the waistline by the use of safety pins, ornamental or otherwise. However, any form of belt, snap fasteners or lacing may be 7 employed to secure the top portions'of theskirt in place or, if desired, a sash, scarf'or cumm'erbund (not shown) may be employed to cover the area ofthe skirt between the line DD and the top of the skirt including the V outer corner portions 24 of the infolded portions 14.

and 15. V I

As is well known, the general expansion of the human body in the abdominal region normally tends to distort V the apparel of the wearer and cause it to assume unthe front and dip down in the back and this destroys en'- tirely the hang or drape of the skirt and the desirable even hemline. .In order to avoid these objectionable features 1 in the present garment, I provide means to confo'rm the same firmly and snugly to the body of; the wearer at the pubic r'egion or immediately below thesabdomen of the wearer. This region is indicated by the line DD in the drawings and it marks the upper termini of the seams 4 and 5. This portion of the dress or skirt is closely fitted to the body of the wearer by proper transo wea'rerat the pubic bone region, in order to preclude stretching of the garment due to the wearer kneeling, sit

ting down or assuming a squatting position. I Thus the lowe'r extremities-22 or the infolded portions 14 and 15 extend slightly below said tapes, as shown, and lie between the tapes and the front insidepor'tion of the garment which overlie the respective infolded portions 14 and 15. This arrangement avoids any possible interference between the tapes and'the lower ends 22 of the infolded portions 14 and 15, during expansion of the latter. If desired, a conventional lining, not -shown,'may

be inserted in the front portion of the garment to further reinforce the garment against stretching, as it is important to maintain this firm snug fit of the garment at the pubic region in order to maintain the proper and desirable fall of the lower portion of the skirt, as well as alsubstantially even hem line.

The skirt is preferably designed to accentuate a generally slim line and may be conventionally flared slightly at the hem line as shown, to provide more comfort in walking, Also, if desired, a split orinverted ,kick pleat as sho w'n at 25a may be provided at the rear of the skirt. It willyof course, be understood that while I have shown askirt' having a three-gore front panel andla two-gore rear panel, this is but for the purpose of illustration only and the number. of gores employed may be varied as desired.

The design features which characterize the skirt' of Figs. 1 to4 are also applicable to a garment such as a dress, and I have shown'in Figs, and 6 the manner in which adress comprising a skirt portion 26' and 'a The frontpanel of cut as shown in Fig. 6 and comprising skirt forming lower gore members 28, 2) and 3% separated by'cut out portions 31 and 32, and blouse forming upper ,gore members "33, 34.-and 35 separated by cut out portions 3 6' The opposed adjacent edges of the gore memand 37.

This is particularly true 39 of the skirt terminate at the line D -D which coincides with the pubic line and marks the lower terminus of the abdominal're gionof the wearer, while the gore. seams 38 in theblouse, terminate at the line D'-D' which marks the upper extremity of the abdominal reg'ion. Between the lines D: and DD the fullness of the central portion 40 of the dress occasioned by the cut out portions 31-32 and '3637 as shown in Fig. .6'is gathered'in infolded pleats 41 which lie on opposite sides of a center'line CL oft-he dress front, and are disposed to occupy positions on opposite'sides of the abdomen of the wearer, forwardly 'of'the hips. It will be noted that the gore seams 38 and'3 9 extend from opposite ends of the front panel towards the waistline of the dress, but terminate at points in longitudinally spaced a relation lying above and below that portion of the panel which is adapted to overlie the abdominal region of the wearer. This provides the necessary fullness in the abdominal region of the dress 'to accommodate body expansion while. distributing said fullness in a manner to'insure the comforter the wearer.

As previously. described in connection with the skirt shown in Figs. 1 to 4, theskirt portion 26 of the dress shown in Figs. 5 and 6 is fitted to snugly and firmly engage the body of the wearer along the line indicated generally at DD, by prope'rly dimensioning the gore elements 28, 29 and 30, or by adjusting the side seams 42 by which the fro'nt panel of't he dress is sewed to a back'fpan'el of conventional form (not shown). Reinforcing tapes 40a, similar to those shown at 25 in Fig. 3, may be employed if desired. 'By thus closely fitting the skirt portion 26 of the dressto the body ofthe wearer at the pubic region thereof, the lower portion of the skirt fallsifreely from this point, thereby maintaining a substantially even hemline and precluding alltendency of the skirt tov ride up infront. 7 V t It -is -'a'pparent from the foregoing description that I I have 'de'signeda garment in which ample fullne'ss is provid'e'd that portion which is adapted to overlie .the abdominal "region of the wearer, to accommodate expanding body contours due to pregnancy or abdominal obesity, and have sodisposed and distributed the material of the garment which provides such fullness, that no sacrifice in comfort or appearanceihaslbeen made. This enables one to wear a garment embod'ying the features of the present invention, with equal comfort before, during and after the time when the waistline of the wearenassume's abnormal proportions? Thus the garment of the present invention may'b'e worn at any time as a normal article of wearing apparel in addition to being of service in times of pregnancy and/or obesity. Furthermore, by the novel design features bywhich the i skirt or dressis supported in a manner to insure proper hang 'or'fall, a neat trim appearance in afforded the wearer, and a trim even hemline is assured. The neat trim appearance of the wearer may be furtherenhanced if a free-hanging jacket or blouse is worn, having a length such that the lower edge thereof coincides substantially with, or falls slightly below, the line D -D.

It should' be noted that the same principles'of design which have been utilized in the skirt and in the dress shown in the drawings, may be utilized to provide a. bifurcatedgarrnent, such as shorts or slacks, 'such as shown in Fig. 7. Thus, ifa front panel such as shown in 'Fig. '8 is formed, similar in all respects'tothat shown in Fig. 4 except that the central gore 43 thereof is made slightly wider than theicentral gore 2 of the skirt panel of Fig. 4, thecentral gore 43 m'ay be bifurcatedalong the line 44 coinciding with the center line oflthe p'anel and the opposite 'sections' 43a and 43b thereof may be joined to the opposite side 'gores 45 :and 46 'by sewing together the respectively adjacent edges 47 and 48. Front bers are sewed together along seam lines 38 and}? as shownin Fig. 5 to form the front portions of the blouse and skirt respectively, it being noted that the gore seams portions of leg members 49=and 50 are thus formed, the seams joining said gore sections being indicated at 51-.

These seams are disposedgenerally centrally of the leg members and extend from the bottom edges thereof upwardly to the line D-D which passes substantially through the pubic region or lower extremity of the abdominal region of the wearer. The upper termini of the seams 51--51 are indicated at the points 52 and the upper part of the garment at points in general vertical alignment with the seam 5151 is provided with dual areas of fullness which are indicated by the infolded pleated portions 53. The rear portion 54 of the bifurcated garment shown in Fig. 7 may be formed in any conventional manner and comprise one or more gores, and said rear portion 54 may be joined to the front portion along side seams 55 and inner leg seams 56, as shown. The upper portion of the garment of Fig. 7 may be provided with any conventional form of placket or fly indicated at 57, or, if desired, a rear or side placket (not shown) may be provided in lieu thereof, if the garment is designed to be worn by a female. Also, adjustable tie tapes as shown at 51a and similar in all respects to those described in respect to Figs. 1 and 3, may be employed to insure a firm snug fit of the garment through the pubic region of the wearer and thus enhance the general appearance thereof.

It will be understood that the reference herein to a one piece panel member is not to be construed as a limitation in this respect since the panel may be constructed of several pieces, if desired, so long as the general design of the panel member as shown in Figs. 4, 6 and 8 is maintained. The use of the one-piece construction as suggested is particularly convenient since it permits the use of 36-inch dress material and reduces the time and labor of the dressmaker to a minimum but the invention is in no way limited to this construction.

In conclusion, it will be understood that while I have shown and described preferred embodiments of my invention, these are but for the purposes of illustration only and those skilled in the art will realize that various changes may be made in the size and proportion and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of my invention, the limits of which are defined more clearly in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A garment adapted to conform to the changing contours of the body of a wearer during pregnancy comprising a skirt having embodied therein a front panel member extending substantially the full length of the skirt and having a widthwise extent to cover the abdominal and pubic regions of the wearer, said front panel member having a pair of spaced elongated generally vertically disposed cutouts, one on each side of the median line of said panel and extending upwardly from the lower edge of the skirt and terminating in that portion of the garment designed to overlie the pubic region of the wearer, the adjacent longitudinal edges of each of said cutouts being joined together, said cutouts having a substantial widthwise extent at the top thereof, the material of the said panel above the cutouts providing pleat forming material when the longitudinal edges of the cutouts are joined together, said pleat forming material above each cutout being folded upon itself to form pleats in the abdominal covering region of the garment.

2. The garment described in claim 1 wherein the longitudinal edges of said cutouts are downwardly and inwardly inclined whereby to give the finished skirt a desired degree of flare at the bottom.

3. The garment described in claim 1 wherein the expansible pleats are infolded and open towards each other on opposite sides of the median line of the front panel.

4. The garment described in claim 1 wherein the panel member is provided with a transversely extending skirt constricting member secured to the inner face of the panel substantially at the upper extremitiesof said cutouts.

5. The garment described in claim 4 wherein said skirt constricting member comprises a band of flexible material sewed to the inner face of the panel, said band including free end tie portions adapted to encircle the body of the wearer.

6. A dress adapted to conform to the changing contours of the body of a wearer during pregnancy comprising a blouse portion and a skirt portion, a front panel member extending substantially the full length of the dress and having upper and lower portions embodied in the blouse and in the skirt portions of the dress respectively, said panel member having a widthwise extent to cover the abdominal and the pubic regions of a wearer, the lower portion of the panel member having a pair of spaced elongated generally vertically disposed cutouts, one on each side of the median line of the panel member and extending upwardly from the lower end of the panel member and terminating below the abdominal covering portion of the dress in that portion thereof designed to overlie the pubic region of the wearer; the upper portion of the panel member having a pair of spaced elongated generally vertically disposed cutouts, one on each side of the median line of the panel and extending downwardly from the upper edge of the panel member and terminating above the abdominal covering portion of the dress, said cutouts in the upper and lower portions of the panel member being in general vertical alignment and having substantial widthwise extent at their inner ends, the longitudinal edges of the respective cutouts being joined, the material of the panel member between the adjacent inner ends of the vertically aligned cutouts providing pleat forming material when the longitudinal edges of said cutouts are joined, said pleat forming material being folded to form pleats extending longitudinally of the panel in the abdominal covering portion thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Maines Nov. 1, 

